Monthly Archives: January 2011

I have a new finished object to show off. This is a baby blanket for a friend’s baby and I’m pretty dang proud of it. It’s very pretty, but I’m not entirely crazy about the pattern. Also, I need to wash it to block it.

I don’t like Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I’m reading it for World Literature and I’m really not crazy about it.

I love Downton Abbey. It’s on Masterpiece Theatre; well, it’s done airing on TV, but it’s on their website until late February. Check it out. It’s a bit risque but pretty dang supremely awesome.

The Hermione Jean sweater is coming along beautifully. I’m almost done with the first sleeve and should have the whole thing done by Friday. Then I’ll release the pattern to test-knitters.

I’m actually working on Jenn’s sweater. I’d like to finish it soon.

And then I’m finally going to start working on the pattern that I need to talk Katie into naming.

And then…there’s the new Superman. I’m kind of excited about this since I’ve had a crush on him for about a year.Yesterday, Katie asked me if someone had been with me to make sure that I was still breathing after I found out. I wasn’t; I was alone.

2)That’s the view from my living room window. Does this tell you why I don’t want to go to the bank and grocery store?

3) I need to read/finish reading three books between now and Thursday. But I also need to get my butt moving and make Maryn’s baby’s blanket.

4) One of those books is The Great Gatsby. I like that book. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a decently handsome man. Zelda’s hair was not decently anything. And her scowl was weird.

5) Look at this!

Hermione Jean just needs a hood and sleeves. I’m so excited about this project.

6) So I need to do some schoolwork today. Then, I get to go eat a home-cooked meal for dinner at someone else’s warm house. Then, I get to come home, Skype with Katie and Becky, eat popcorn, and watch Leap Year with them. I love my friends.

Today, my humble little blog received over 1,000 hits. I am in awe. Apparently, at least some of these people were searching for “Harry Potter Sweater Patterns.” To each of them, I would like to say, “Please be patient with me. It is coming.”

Yes, I am developing a pattern that I have tentatively named “Hermione Jean.” However, I am still knitting my own personal Hermione Jean (Please see above photo; it is my progress as of last Friday…although it is a little more advanced than that today) and therefore do not yet have a pattern for my eager test knitters or the general public as of yet. I am aiming to have this pattern to my test knitters over on Ravelry by early February and I am currently knitting at a pace that would indicate this to be an achievable goal. Then, once they have tested it for me and we have verified that it is a good pattern, it will be available for sale on Etsy and Ravelry. I am choosing to sell this pattern because it is requiring a great deal of personal commitment from me and I would like to be compensated accordingly for said efforts.

If you would prefer to knit a free pattern, I am hoping to have a cap-sleeved tunic sweater/sweater-dress available on the blog and Ravelry by late February or early March. This pattern, which currently only exists in the dusty garret also known as my brain, may possible be available before Hermione Jean, but we shall see.

For those of you who read this blog to stay informed about the life of one eccentric college student named Cecilia, I am still alive. I am currently taking five English classes-one linguistics class, one critical theory class, and three literature classes. If we threw the linguistics class away, I might think that I had died and gone to heaven. I read, I knit, I eat, I sleep, I drink coffee. And I don’t think it necessarily happens in that order.

Please keep reading! I promise that I will have two lovely new patterns up for you in the near future. And in the meantime, try knitting Anne-Cordelia. G. loves hers…and she has room to grow, which both her mother and I find exciting.

I decided to be semi-creative with the title, but that’s about all the creativity you’ll get from me.

Graduate from college-this will take the majority of the year but I will do it.

Finish Middlemarch. I started it last week and I’m only three chapters in.

Knit at least six pairs of socks. Last year, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee created a self-imposed sock club in which she created twelve kits including a pattern and some yarn to make a pair of socks every month. Well, SPM is a much more experienced knitter than I am and so I am starting a little more slowly. I’m going to commit to a pair of socks every two months with the intention of trying to get each pair done in a month. I’m starting by making these socks in green and I’m pretty excited about them.

I have two knitting patterns up my sleeve and I’m hoping to get them both out into the world this year. One was inspired by a sweater that Hermione Granger wears in the newest Harry Potter movie. The other is inspired by my imagination, current fashion trends, and by some of my favorite literary heroines. And if you want to know how all that can fit together, well stick around until a sweater pattern with a name from a Jane Austen novel gets posted.

I want to spend a week in Pittsburgh. I know I went there in the spring of 2010, but I want to go again this year.

I want to knit my brother a sweater.

I want to knit at least five sweaters this year. That includes the one for my brother, one for my friend Jenn that is currently “on needle,” and both of the patterns referenced in goal #4. But I also want to make Katie and Jenny sweaters for their birthdays, so I somehow feel that this will turn into making at least six sweaters. We’ll see.

I want to read Interior Castles by St. Teresa of Jesus. I own it; that’s the easy part. St. Teresa is a great personal heroine of mine and I want to learn more about her and learn from her.

I want to read a book from an author that I’ve never read before-not because I have to read it for a class but because I want to and because someone I trust recommended it to me.

I want to knit a cowl. I’ve never made one before-or even worn one. But I think it’s something that I would like and that would be useful to me.

I want to be more patient. Now this might sound strange, but bear with me. I just listed off numerous knitting projects (sweaters, gloves, cowls) that I want to make. And as SPM said, “I don’t knit because I’m patient. I’m patient because I knit.” Ergo, What I want in 2011 is this…more knitting time. I want more time to sit and read a good book in peace, more time to knit and drink a lovely mug of tea, more time to relax. I don’t know how I’ll get that, but I’d really like it if I could get that.